The Stalker and the Halo
by DragonCrepe
Summary: "Who are you?" They used to ask. Lily didn't know how to answer that question. She never could. And besides, with the Nighthunters so near and all the problems they had to reverse when the witches were framed, it wasn't such a good idea to blow up their identity. But still, Lily didn't know. She didn't know.
1. The Nighthunters

Intruder

_Thump_. _Thump._ Lily froze in her tracks. The footsteps became louder and louder, indicating that the intruder was near. There was no place to hide. She peeked over at the window, only to see sinister, black, fog eerily floating around her house. _I need to escape_.

_Thump, Thump._

_I need to get out of here._

_THUMP, THUMP._

_I need to escape_. _**Thump Thump… **_With a deafening roar, the intruder thrust his invisible body into her bedroom, flinging slimy, dark, goop all over her bedroom. Unable to help it, she screamed and ducked under her bed. She made noise. He would soon detect her.

"_**Come out here, little girl. Come to me…**_" He said in a bloodcurdling laugh that sent chills down her spine. His voice was uncommonly magnified and with each word, it seemed like he sent a cold breeze of everything she feared. Fearing for her life and trembling, she braced for impact under her bed and prepared for him to find her. "_**I can sense you anywhere… why fight it? Come to me…**_" The monster said again. Black glistening starts appeared to surround him and a surge of hopelessness rushed through her like magic. She felt the enchantment, pulling all hope and strength away, and the suicidal intention to come to him; to give up all hope and stop this hell. "_**Yes, yes, come…**_" She lost a bit of herself with every step. Suddenly…

"COME OUT, YOU FOUL BEAST!" Shouted a stubborn voice from outside. She regained some consciousness and fell onto the floor, limp. A surge of cold wind and evilness whooshed pass her and headed down through the wall, along with a black, sinister, and evil force that seemed forever loyal to it. The bloodcurdling and cackling laugh of the intruder was ringing in her ears, and soon she heard multiple wet slices, the screams and yells of the brave warriors, and the gurgling of dead organs and leaking blood. It was a signal from nature. She couldn't stay here; the phantom would be back for her soon. Painfully clutching her head, she made her way down the flight of stairs as fast as her body could carry her. Her knees hurt very badly and with every step, small sparks of pain shot up to her head. Finally, nearly collapsing on the floor, she took out a pair of Elytra wings. Wasting no time, Lily finally escaped the strange entity.

She did not even know where she would go except _away_, as far from the evil entity as possible. Almost three quarters of the trip she was drifting off in a near-unconscious state, barely enough to steer towards nowhere. Finally, after hours and hours of paranoid flying in the heavy and soggy rainstorm and cold, freezing wind, she dropped down from the sky and collapsed in a dry cave for temporary shelter. Lily drifted off in less than a couple seconds as the clouds cleared away in a restless midnight. Night monsters walked around in strange, abnormal formations as if someone, or something had just awakened and had called them all to duty. Unsettling whispers and horrifying scenes filled Lily's dreams, making an unpeaceful dream. _**Give up all hope**_, the land around her seemed to whisper all the time. Nevertheless, bad rest was better than none at all.

The next morning, Lily sought out to seek for medication, population, and possibly better shelter. Her head ached of all the terrible visions last night, and it still felt like she wasn't quite the same before. Who was that entity? She thought of all the possible suspects. Herobrine? Entity 303?... Null? No, none of those fit. It wasn't either of them. Still limping, Lily looked around her. On the edge of the horizon was a couple of small structures, and possibly a village if she wasn't imagining it. Her elytra still hadn't broken yet, and could possibly handle this trip. Miserably and begrudgingly, she forced herself to accept that her home was destroyed by the mysterious monster and she was now lost, scavenging for food and shelter, living in the wilderness. _Not if I reach this village first and find a new destiny_, she thought. It seemed possible now. Everything that happened last night seemed blurry, like a dream that she remembered after waking up. The flight, the attack, and the brave warriors standing up to him… they all seemed very fake. Maybe her entire life was also part of the dream. Maybe she'd been here her whole life. She leveled her gaze to the direction of the village. _I need to get there_.

Hopeless and confused, Lily forced herself to look into that view one more time. _Think about the village, _she thought. _Just the village_. With her unrealistically sore arms, she threw on the cape-like wings and prepared to set off. Multiple times in the air, she lost her sight on the village and accidentally turned the wrong way. But following the land below her for guidance, she finally got there, seconds until the elytra broke down and collapsed on the floor once again. Suddenly, she heard the murmurings of the villagers. "Is that another victim?"

"I think it is, quickly, bring her in. The other victims can discuss the matter."

"Quick, she's fainting."

"C'mon, guys!" Someone else shouted. _Other victims?_ Lily quietly thought in her head. What were they talking about? Were there other people that also encountered dark entities like her? Half conscious, she felt someone lift her off the floor and onto a bed-like thing, except it was portable. She sought for answers no longer. She could just drift off, wait for help, and then…

Dreamily, she awoke from her restless slumber and found herself inside a hospital-like environment. Lily rubbed her eyes, trying to figure out the situation and saw two other people turning their attention onto her. "Ah, you're awake. How awesome." One of them soberly said without much enthusiasm.

"Verrammah ee?" She tried to ask, only to find she couldn't use her voice.

"Oh, yes, sorry. It's part of the modified versions of the Healing Potion, don't worry, it'll wear off soon. Keeps you relaxed; you see." Lily wanted to protest, but her mind argued against it. The effects really were getting to her nerves, making her want to do nothing but sleep, sleep, sleep, and sleep. Around her were more 'victims', most of them sleeping, daydreaming, or attempting to talk with the healers. One of them were even writing in their book. She tried again.

"Verr am ah?"

"Where are you? You're in Rosary Pea Village Hospital, and where we will fix you up after, um, your attack?"

"Waddack?"

"Yes, most of our patients here claim they've been attacked by an invisible force with black, glistening fog behind them that wants to take their soul."

"Ya, eem! Waddack ee!" She tried to point out. It turned out that the nurse couldn't understand that. Exhausted by her sudden exclamation, she dropped her head back onto the pillow and felt herself drifting away again. No, she needed to get answers. Lily forced herself to sit back up and observe her surroundings a bit more. She was in a _hospital_ in the village called Rosary Pea. It was an interesting name, considering it was one of the most poisonous plants in the whole world. Using all the energy and power she had left, Lily hoisted herself off the bed and found her feet touching the floor for the first time.

"Woah, you recover pretty fast for someone who had her life half-taken. You steady?" One of them asked. Was there a twinge of disappointment in her voice, or did she imagine it? Suddenly, a surge of dryness sunk down inside her. Like she had just been punched in the gut, Lily clutched the door handle and leaned on the wall.

"M ffnn, leevn.." She gasped as she tried the handle. Surprisingly, the nurses didn't try to stop her. That was not very normal for any hospital staff. Maybe they were just bad at it? Whatever the case, Lily didn't wasn't complaining and didn't want to stay in there any longer. Soon, the mind numbness got worse as she strode through the streets, leaning on fences and walls every few seconds to catch her breath. But one thing was clear. As much as she wanted to, if she fell asleep and collapsed now, there was a very strong feeling that she would never wake up again.

"Woah, are you okay?" Someone passing her asked.

"Thhh…" She breathed, about to faint. _I mustn't give in_. She repeated over and over again in her head. It didn't help. Everything she thought about was starting to blur together, every meaning got dimmer and dimmer. There was just the face of the monster she saw last night. Or last week. How long had she been sleeping?

"Oh man. That's happening to all the patients in that damn hospital! Victim Mania, we call it. Come on, get into my place, get a couple of healing potions, maybe even milk if it's potions they're giving you!"

"ffbrll…" She sputtered. She didn't even know what she was supposed to say. A few seconds later, her willpower dimmed too. It was fading into all the mumbo jumbo nonsense, and soon there was nothing wrong with collapsing onto the floor and sleeping away.

"NO! Stay awake!" The other girl shouted.

"eRLk… Elp ee… can't oil…" Lily tried again. Some meaning came back into her mind. _Stay awake, Stay awake, Stay awake_… But for some reason she couldn't snap all of it back. It all depended on how fast she could get to some proper medication.

"Come on!" The other girl said again. She lifted Lily up and ran as fast as she could towards a random direction. The motion and the comfortableness made it way harder for her to stay awake. _**Sleep, Lily. Lay down. Relax. Let go of all this pain, all this trouble, all this…**_ "You need to try harder! Fight for your life!" Lily perked up at the sound of 'fight'. She regained so much consciousness at once.

"Help me… Drifting off…" She said as clearly as she could. The open-minded sensation didn't last long. Everything blurred once again.

"Were here… were here… stay here…" the girl put Lily down beside the fireplace. The heat was so hot she yelped and moved away. _Perfect, I'm getting awake some more_. She thought. But laying down wasn't the best idea. She found herself having to use the heat and the pain to keep herself moving and clear. But her nerves was fading too…

"COMING!" The other girl yelled with unnecessary loudness. She had a couple buckets of milk in her arms, and without warning…

_SPLOOSH!_

All of it landed on Lily's body. She choked and choked until she felt like the effects were wearing off. All of it, since the beginning of the attack. Lily gasped.

"Oh, um, thanks. I guess." She realized.

"Phew, you're alright! Oh my goodness, I KNEW it! The hospital is up to something! And yeah, all the stored milk were worth it, I didn't think I'd have to use all of it at once. By the way, my name is Autumn. How are you doing? How long have you been there? Did you see when they gave you the stuff? Where they suspicious at first were-"

"WAIT, WAIT-" Lily breathed. "Just need to catch my breath."

"Oh, sorry. Recovery? Yeah, all patients need to recover! Why didn't I realize that! Hold on, lemme get someone." Autumn squealed. Turning her body over to the couch, Lily sat against it and gasped. What had just happened? First she was flying to Rosary Pea Village and then the nurses gave her some 'modified healing potion' and then she was starting to become all weird and ghostly? Like she had just lost the ability to think and feel and just wanted to fall down and sleep. She felt even worse when she saw the giant milk stain on the carpet and the smoke and ashes of the half-extinguished fire.

"Meet… Icicle!" Autumn smiled. Lily looked at the blue-haired girl. She smiled back.

"Yes, yes, all good. Shall we rescue more of them?" Shouted an enthusiastic voice from the kitchen.

"No. The VPAP needs you, remember? All those cases, stuff… you have been working on?"

"Oh… yeah. Gotta go!" He laughed as he skipped happily out of the door. Lily rubbed her eyes drowsily one more time as she tried to focus.

"Who was that?" She murmured, still feeling unsure about her 'mind sense' situation.

"Oh, don't mind him. He's starting to go a bit gaga, that's all. There's been suddenly multiple missions and suspicions, you know. Manchineel, Autumn's brother." Icicle said reassuringly.

"VPAP?"

"Village Protection Association Partnership. It's one of the seven Protectors, Agencies, as most people call it. The rest are GPA, EPI, MSD, the list goes on."

"Anyway, what's your name?"

"Oh, um, I'm Lily."

"HI! Come on, let's sit down, talk about it." Autumn warmly said as she stretched out her hand to help Lily up. Then, following her, she sat down at the table.

"Hey, Lily. Can you tell us what happened? We really want to discover this stuff- you know." And so, Lily told them everything. The sunny afternoon where she went strolling in her garden, the entire neighborhood covering in black smoke, the evil entity, the monster, the intruder, her escape, and the effects of both the monster and the hospital's potion.

"And so, when I woke up, I felt really weird like I can't talk or move or think straight. It's just like all I wanted to do was _sleep_ and _sleep_ and _sleep_. I felt a little bit like that when he just attacked me, but that was okay because I still woke up from my sleep in that cave, just a little bit exhausted and sleepy, that's all." Autumn and Icicle exchanged significant glances and talked about it.

"How about this, we have a plan. First, you, Lily, will stay at my place, rest up, get fully healed, and me and Icicle will rescue more patients from that place, obviously something fishy is going on."

"Yeah, Lily. Come on." Icicle smiled as she helped Lily up and directed her to one of the upstair floors. Finally feeling a little bit clearer in her mind, she told herself it was okay to rest for a bit and mildly drift off. Her new friends would take care of all of it. Unless _he_ comes back.


	2. The Potion

**Okay, so hi guys. I'm sorry this took so long for me even if it was significantly shorter than the last one! Hmph the storyline is a bit mixed from now on. Expect rewrites soon! Anyway, let's begin with Chapter 2.**

* * *

Lily took a deep breath and turned inside the bed. Something was bothering her. And she didn't know what it was. Small sparks of spine-chilling cold air rushed onto her every few seconds. With each surge, she felt more and more towards the slumber effects. Even under the warm covers and the eccentric heater, she felt herself shivering. In her haste, she placed he hand onto her forehead. It was _boiling_, and there was lots of sweat everywhere. It seems like her body was disagreeing with her mind. It was her insides that seemed to be frozen, and there was nothing from the outside that could help with that. Not heaters, not blankets, not even _really_ wooly beds.

_Food!_

She knew. Warm, hot, soup had never appealed so much to her. But this was Autumn's house, not hers, and besides, being a nice and polite guest, she can't just go down and demand whatever she wanted. That would be bad… so Lily stayed in the bed, hoping whatever that was causing the cold would stop and just miraculously disappear. Suddenly, it occurred to her to realize how long she had been here. The last thing she remembered was collapsing onto a comfortable surface, and… how long had she been sleeping? It was incredibly frustrating for her that her one weakness was sleeping too much. The door suddenly opened unexpectedly, making it's usual mind-stabbing creaking sound. "Lily?" whispered a familiar voice. It was Autumn.

"Yah?" She answered, suddenly horrified and worried that she might be going into her 'trance' again.

"Oh, good. You're awake! You've been asleep for a _week_ already and- well, I think you should come down and get something to eat." She sounded unbelievably realistically cheerful, but Lily knew Autumn had other things in her heart. Disappointment. Fear. Confusion. Frustration. Failure. It looked as if she was trying to hide all those things. Ever since she was little, Lily had always been able to detect other's hidden feelings and emotions, sometimes even some obvious thoughts, like magic. Some used to say she was a magical entity.

"Autumn. Are you… okay?" She asked. "It just seems like… you're upset about something. Did the mission go wrong?"

"No, why would you think something went wrong?"

"Well, I don't know. You're all like _Can't tell Lily, all wrong, all wrong, can't, stop, weird thing…_ It's just weird."

"No I'm not… see, I'm perfectly happy and smiling! Come on, let's go eat some soup." Autumn insisted, but she did start to look suspiciously at her. _Can't, how, tell me, what… _her mind started saying. Lily couldn't help but laugh. "What!?" Autumn shouted playfully.

"You're trying to hide it…" Autumn radiated inquiry, confusion, and deception all over. It was too obvious.

"Hold on… are you- a magical entity?" She asked. Lily burst into laughter.

"No, no! no, I'm not. Well, sort of. I'm not much of one, though. Just forget it. Tell me what happened?" But Autumn's mind did not seem to be in that matter any longer. Her eyes started getting wider and wider and soon her mouth followed.

"YOU-YOU-Y-YOU-" She started.

"Oh, just relax. This is really making me uncomfortable- NO, NO, NO." She held her hands out as Autumn prepared to hurtle an avalanche of words at her. She bit down on her tongue and jumped up and down several times, like trying to release the energy some other way.

"I've GOT to tell Icicle- oh my goodness…"

"No. Let's go, tell me whatever I need to know." Lily said in a demanding tone. Autumn smiled and gestured for her to follow her down a flight of stairs. Finally, they she got to the table where they held their first 'meeting'.

"ICICLE!" She yelled. Icicle came forward from one of the other rooms and sat down.

"Yeah? Oh, right. Lily's awake. So, well, all the patients in the hospital… are fine. They've had an attack like yours, evil entity, black smoke, blah blah blah, but the healing potion actually made them _better_. Nothing fishy is going on in there. They're completely okay."

"What? But how is that possible? It made me _worse_. And it's not time, it's-"

"That wasn't what I was going to show you, Icicle. Tell you what: Lily's a MAGICAL ENTITY!"

"WHAT?" She yelled. Icicle blinked twice at Lily and looked back at Autumn with her eyes shining.

"I'm not a magical entity! Autumn is exaggerating. I'm- um, _half_ magical entity. Not even half. _Quarter_ magical entity."

"But you are sort of magical?"

"NO! &*^=$# !*("

"OOKAY. Um, Autumn?"

"She's being WAY too humble. She's totally magical! 100%!"

"Wait what? Lily-"

"No, just compare that to the rest of the people. Herobrine- Shoots lightning bolts, makes hallucinations, teleports- Notch, creator of our world- Endriana, she's the Ender Dragon! That's cool, right! Even that crazy fog evil entity dude! He makes you weak and looks legendary and-"

"STOPSTOPSTOPSTOP. Autumn, is Lily a magical entity?" Icicle asked.

"Yes, she is! She can read minds and who knows what else!"

"How powerful do you think that is?"

"She's an incredibly powerful magical entity who can take over the world!" Icicle tried smother a laugh. Lily couldn't help herself either, and nearly burst into laughter.

"Heh, heh, yes, *cough*, Lily, do you think you are a magical entity?"

"Well, you know. I can only feel other's emotions and feelings, and sometimes really, really, really obvious thoughts. But it's not like those hermits who can immediately penetrate into your mind and see everything inside you." For a moment, Icicle looked dazed but quickly recovered herself.

"Empathy."

"Yes. You know. I feel others. For example, you're like _Lily, Feel, So much empathy, but hope… but useful…_"

"Really?"

"Yes. Not correct?"

"Wow. 100% correct. Well, sort of."

"See? I TOLD YOU SO! Lily is a powerful-" Lily laughed at that.

"Come on, Autumn! No. Just a little bit. But to be honest, I really want to be done with this matter. Please?" Autumn let out an exasperated sigh but agreed anyway.

"Fine. What do we do?"

"Find out what's fishy, obviously!" Lily retorted. Suddenly, Icicle's perked up. She made a _just a sec _face and ran off into some other room. She looked over that direction, perplexed. Within a few minutes, she ran back to the table and dumped a box in front of her and Autumn's face.

"Potions of invisibility!" Lily exclaimed.

"Yep. Original witch-brewed. My great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather raided this from a Witch Town."

"Witch town?"

"You know. Back in the old days, where there were magic pretty much everywhere. Now there's only little shreds of it in people like you, Lily."

"Oh."

"Anyway, this is guaranteed to last longer than the normal ones. Beware- it'll taste bad." She quickly warned when Autumn reached towards one of the bottles. Ignoring her warning, she uncapped one and smelled it.

"Ew… that DOES smell bad." Autumn snorted dismissively.

"I honestly have no knowledge at all about potions- it includes something… probably like a golden carrot, gold ingots, and some night vision potion? I don't know, it isn't my strong point." Icicle frowned. Autumn nodded curtly and looked back at Lily.

"Yeah, yeah. C'mon, let's go." She said as she grabbed three bottles of the potions and ran out of the door. Icicle followed, and so did Lily. They ran along the village streets, made some quick turns, and finally bumped into the hospital front door.

"I'm going to go public and ask. So we don't seem suspicious, I mean."

"Yeah. Me and Lily will back you if anything bad happens." Icicle said reasurringly. Those were one of the times they were INCREDIBLY hard to read her emotions, because they were so mixed. As if she wasn't even feeling anything.

"Aren't you nervous?" She tried to ask casually, hoping Icicle wouldn't notice.

"I thought you know already know!" She inquired.

"Um, no. Just want you to point me in the right direction."

"Oh. Oh wait! There's Autumn! Let's see how she does."

"Welcome to Rosary Pea Hospital! Are you here for an inspection, medication, emergencies, or special appointments?" Said the nurse from the front desk.

"Medication. Please."

"Are you looking for a specific one?"

"Modified healing potion."

"They would be in the pharmacy, room 3. Talk to the receptionist there."

"Thanks… I guess."

"Come on!" Icicle suddenly said to Lily. She followed her out of the bush and into the entrance.

"Um… what are we doing?"

"Welcome to Rosary Pea Hospital! Are you here for-"

"Visiting. Our… relative. He's having… um…" She shot Lily a nervous look.

"Uh… Surgery." She finished for her.

"Please wait in the waiting room in room 8." She finished. Icicle immediately grabbed Lily's hand and dragged her up the stairs.

"Were going to room 3. Come on." Icicle's aura suddenly flared for no reason. It was so fast Lily had no idea what was the emotion thinly veiled inside it, but continued trying to find her way to _Room 3_. At last, with a couple of wrong turns and confused walking, they found the big, smug, sign hanging above them as if taunting the words _Ha, ha, took you so long to find me, ha, ha_.

"Icicle! Lily!" Shouted a voice from behind one of the shelves. It was Autumn.

"Autumn! What have you found?" She sighed deeply. Then, she grabbed a box of red bottles and pointed to the label.

"Hm… Warlock Witch Village Products. That's… the… Warlock Witch Villages, a place where they make potions in peace." Autumn exclaimed.

"What's that?"

"It's a community. The biggest official community of witches yet. They're sort of passive mobs now, but- you know. That's where our invisibility potions came from. We didn't really use it, I mean."

"Modified healing potion. It says on the label. So it really isn't the hospital's fault… The witch did this."

"But why would any witch do this?"

"Simple. In the old times, and plenty of times in the present, witches are just like zombies and skeletons and creepers except smarter. It's possible they're still part of the monsters- and they just faked this alliance to mount a huge attack. This may just be the start of it."

"What about the creepy black monsters?"

"They could be just the witches using some disguise potion. Or… the witches created some potion that makes really powerful creatures and they're just doing their bidding. Perhaps… perhaps they're aliens that the witches employed?"

"Or they're just doing their own thing."

"Oh really? The witches strike immediately after the black creatures? The effects they do are kind of similar to some potions too! This isn't a coincidence." And Lily knew this too. Something was up, and it wasn't the hospital. It was something much bigger.

"What do we do then? Our hospital is contaminated!" Autumn gave Icicle a dramatic look.

"We put an end to it!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well?" Autumn significantly said to Lily. She was just as perplexed as Icicle. Lily decided to cheat. _ADVENTURE! HEROISM! ME AND FRIENDS!_ Her mind kept repeating.

"We journey to the far lands and find the Witch Warlock Villages? And… do detective work?" Lily laughed. That was so ridiculous! Why couldn't they just call authority and get them to investigate it? This was totally just like in children's books, and soon she forced herself to believe Autumn was bluffing. She wasn't.

"Pack your bags, we're going to the villages!" Autumn yelled with her voice ringing. Lily couldn't help but present ridicule to this matter. "Something wrong?"

"Yes! Everything wrong!" She laughed and soon Icicle joined in. It was decided. They won't be going to 'journey' to the far lands and 'save the world' from potions. Absolutely ridiculous. Right?


	3. Adventure-ish

** Again, we are back. I honestly didn't plan anything for this chapter, so I'll create as it goes. I know, not the best idea, but we've all got to try new things… right? Unfortunately, that may make the chapter kind of messy.**

* * *

"Lily?"

"Yeah?" Lily answered softly as Autumn peaked into the room.

"What are you doing here?"

"I've been thinking… maybe we should go to the Witch Warlock Villages. It's connected to the black fog monsters. It may be the only way we can… be free."

"YES! EXACTLY!"

"Autumn! Lily! You know the VPAP is more than capable of handling these. Manchineel- he's the deadliest and most powerful agent. I bet he can eat the black fog monsters for breakfast!" Icicle exclaimed.

"Manchineel?"

"My brother. He's also a magical entity- you know. Really, really, really, powerful." Autumn answered.

"Oh."

"He's named after the manchineel tree because… well, he's basically a walking manchineel tree. You touch him- you'll get blistered and poisoned and the normal healing potions don't even work. Touch it for a REALLY long time and you'll die. Also some other stuff I don't know about." Autumn explained.

"But Lily- you're also a magical entity! There are no 'powerful' or 'weak' or 'decent' power levels. You're both magical!"

"THAT- just proves I'm not 100%. But anyway, we'll pack up. I have a shulker box." Lily snapped. She took out three brightly colored shulker boxes her father once gave to her as a gift when he went battling them in The End. Then, she tossed Autumn an orange one and gave Icicle a light-blue one. She, herself, took the white one.

"Food is in the kitchen, your stuff is in the bedrooms, and weapons… sorry. I don't have any. We'll just have to craft, don't we?"

"I don't get why we're going to _fight_ anyone. We're just trying to find out how and why they made this attack."

"Um, they're witches, remember? Mobs!"

"Okay, okay. But we could just stealthily-"

"They've created potions so that when they drink it, they can see anyone invisible or potions that could increase their eyesight by 100 times! Even… even splash potions that contains milk! That'll give us away immediately."

"Okay. So, we need to _fight_ the witches?"

"Well-well- _maybe_!"

"Fine." Icicle said as she tossed something aside.

"My goodness, is that an _Enchanted Map_?" Autumn exclaimed.

"What's an enchanted map?"

"It's… like a locator map, except it can show the whole world and you can locate any landmarks. Like, you say: village, and then it'll show all the nearest and safest routes to nearby villages. Or… hidden treasure, and then it'll show you hidden treasure buried everywhere. It's a legendary object… And it doesn't just locate those. They can locate anything… your house, a forest glade, the mesa plateau, caves, ravines, cities, even people. Witch Warlock Villages." She said to the map after explaining it all to Lily. Immediately, splotches of color appeared on the blank piece of paper and a brightly colored and clear line appeared to form a path through the trees and mountains, leading to a couple of huge buildings and some little elaborate cottages. Hundreds of dots were all about the map.

"What are the little dots?"

"People. The color depends on your mood."

"Huh." Lily said, as she saw her color. It was blue. Was she _sad_ or something? No, she was perfectly curious and excited! There was obviously a mistake. It suddenly occurred to her that she never bothered to realize her own feelings. She had focused too much on others.

"Why is mine blue? I'm not sad!"

"Oh… no. There's a color code. It's different than the auras and the common representatives. Blue is curiosity.

"That's weird. They should've gone with common color representatives. That'll avoid confusion."

"Your dot is turning purple! You're confused!"

"Well, maybe I am. Anyway, let's go. Hey- your dot is turning yellow! You're actually sort of nervous. You're not happy right now!" She said to Icicle. Icicle only laughed.

"Yellow represents nervous in here, Lily. If it's too hard to learn the code, then you can always check yourself. Or you can tell us if the map is wrong."

"Well- I guess." She grunted. Lily felt betrayed by the map. It stole _her_ power. Soon though, she forgot all about the map and started packing her own stuff: a diamond sword she had crafted herself when her father, a great warrior, inspired her to be just like him. She realized it was all she had. Most of the stuff that wasn't in her inventory got confiscated by the hospital. Soon after she decided it was indeed everything, she went out of the room and down the stairs.

"HOLY- YOU HAVE A DIAMOND SWORD?" Autumn yelled.

"Yeah… I won't need to craft weapons. What've you got?"

"Um… a hoe." Icicle nervously said as she whipped out the farming tool. Lily almost burst out laughing.

"A hoe isn't a weapon! It'll do just as much damage as a feather or your hand. Maybe it'll be for show for some noobs… but yeah."

Icicle sighed. "I know. My family isn't exactly a warrior line." Autumn also sighed.

"Me neither. Anyway, let's go. Here's the map- we'll have to walk. Sorry." She unlocked and walked out of the front door, indicating for Icicle and Lily to follow. Lily sorrowfully followed Autumn, not knowing what would happen next. It was happening so suddenly. She wasn't prepared at all.

* * *

"AARGH!" She screamed when she accidentally stepped into a berry bush. She had been so focused on the map that she had completely forgot about her surroundings.

"Lily! Get out of that!" Autumn screamed.

"You don't need to be a genius to know that!" Lily protested as she hauled herself away from it.

"Yeah, you should be careful. We're in the taiga bay. A bunch of sweet berry bushes here and-… dang…"

"What? What is it?" Icicle inquired at the drop of her voice.

"It- it's dawn." Autumn stared at Lily and Icicle with terrified eyes. How was it _dawn_ already? They had walked barely three hours with many, many breaks and the they could still see the tip of the village. They had made so little progress today. Their luminous dots barely moved over an inch in the map.

"We have to build shelter! Quickly, before night comes!"

"There's no time to collect wood! We've got to- DIG A HOLE!" Autumn screamed. It was dawn. So what? There's nothing you need to worry about _night_. There were just weakling little zombies and skeletons, super easy to vanquish. Besides, it was actually _fun_ staying a little late before bed to have fun with monsters. Autumn and Icicle were totally overreacting… right? Lily gave a perplexed look to her friends.

"What's wrong?"

"IT'S NIGHT! WE'RE GOING TO GET MAULED BY MOBS!" She screamed.

"Um… no we're not… Aren't you going to stay for slaying time?"

"…_Warrior_. Yep, you're warrior-ish. But _we're_ not. We go to bed at the right time because we never fight mobs! They're so powerful and you can get easily killed!" Lily couldn't help but laugh. That was hilarious.

"Fine, fine. Build your shelter, I'll make sure you guys are safe. No mobs will come within a mile-radius." Icicle gave Lily a helpful grin as she took out her diamond sword. They were being sarcastic. Nothing was going to _maul _them. The worst a zombie could do was give you poisoning, and it barely even hurts. Besides, you would regenerate faster than another monster could get you. Were they really that scaredy-cat? Lily looked around her again. Dawn was fading away. Night approached, and her friends squirmed and dug frantically, though more relaxed after Lily gave them her promise. Then, Lily looked around for a good hiding spot and a nice place to pounce. There, by the shadow of a tree. A hole was nearby, and monsters tended to appear in dark shadows. She sat down by the tree. _Almost time_.

The sun descended majestically lower.

_Almost to midnight_.

The peak of the moon arose, marking the beginning of a zombie apocalypse.

_3…_

It rose higher and higher, giving the land a holy, luminous glow.

_2…_

The sky began to fully darken, and outlines of the stars popped out.

_1…_

Zombies groaning. Skeletons shooting. It was perfect.

_It's time_.

Lily thrust her body out of the behind of the tree trunk and hurled herself at an unsuspecting zombie, getting used to his sense of smell. It realized she was there… but not fast enough. With one swipe, it discorporated in a flash of white smoke. Suddenly, all the zombies turned eerily to her with a strange sense of rhythm. Skeletons and creepers stared creepily at her in an unusual way. Lily immediately stopped her slashing and looked at them in a confused manner. None of them sneered or groaned, they jut stood there, emotionless. Lily looked into them. It was the first time she got nothing in return.

"_**Kill."**_

Said a divine voice from out of nowhere. It sounded horribly familiar. Before she knew it, every single mob in sight dived towards her at the speed of light.

"AAAH!" She screamed. One zombie made a seemingly weak punch at her, but she flew three feet high into the air. It _hurt_. Zombies aren't supposed to be like this. Recovering her wits, she slashed wildly at all the surrounding monsters, but it wasn't enough. With each kill, one more respawned at an impossible speed and immediately located her. They moved at an incredible speed for a monster like them, and no matter how hard she fought, her efforts won't enough. Strangely, it took more than seven swipes to take one of them down. Finally, realizing that she had already lost, she quickly ran out of the way. All the mobs immediately chased after her like they had just drank a potion of swiftness XXX. One skeleton took his aim, and Lily tried her best to dodge out of the way.

"UNH!" She yelled surprise. A stray arrow landed on her left leg. Blood started leaking everywhere. Lily tried to get up, but her bleeding was too much. Nearby, was a cave. She crawled and crawled towards it even when zombies surrounded her everywhere, biting, grabbing, and clutching her ankles. One of them laughed maliciously and stabbed a sharp stick into her hand.

"AAAAAARGH!" She screamed even louder. The stick was embedded to her flesh. She had never felt any pain like this, and soon she felt this feeling, as if she was already dead. A Husk kicked her injured and bleeding leg and she screamed harder than ever. Suddenly, a phantom swooped down on her. Still remembering her skills, she caught hold of it and started riding it into the sky. Suddenly, it started shaking her off, and in her weak state, she lost her grip and fell down into a pool of water. Her hand and leg screamed with agony at the touch of the liquid, but nothing could be worse when a Drowned threw the trident onto her foot. She was stuck. She squirmed and squirmed, but each time she tried to resurface her foot came apart some more. Finally, seeing the glowing blue eyes of the drowned zombies, she pulled off the trident with extreme force. Trying her best to ignore the agonizing pain, she pulled her out into the deeper parts of the cave. Nothing was there. However, there was a pool of blood surrounding her legs. That was it. She was going to bleed to death.

_Then let me_.

There wasn't a point in her state now. Lily collapsed onto the floor. She was going to die anyway. A zombie would get her, or she would bleed to death.

* * *

The first feeling she felt was a slight tugging on her leg. It was still stinging and aching. Especially on the part- _a skeleton shot_. She was running from mobs and… wait. Why was she running from mobs? She never ran from them! She would bravely fight against them and always emerge victorious and unhurt! Unless… Last night's procedures became clearer in her head. Powerful zombies. Fast. A cave. Lots of blood. Her own. But she was familiar with this. She would be unconscious… but Autumn and Icicle would always find her, heal her up, and then she'd wake up seeing them. Then Autumn would breathe a sigh of relief, saying 'Oh good, you're awake', and then everything would be back to normal.

"Aaah. It's good to be back. What happened?" She said. Nobody answered her. She slammed her finger to the floor. It wasn't a bed. It was rock.

"Autumn? Icicle?" She said again to her imaginary friends. Nothing happened. And then, she realized the cold, horrible, truth. _No one was there_. Lily forced herself to open her eyes, and the first thing she was a dim, purple, light coming from the deeper parts of the cave. Beside her, was an arrow on fire. The same arrow that pierced her leg, but there was no blood in sight anywhere. Surprised, she sat up and saw that her leg was completely healed. The aching and the stinging was imaginary. Everything was.

"AUTUMN! ICICLE! WHERE ARE YOU?" She yelled, desperate for hope. No one answered her. No one was there. It was true. Lily wanted to cry out again and again, but she knew it would only attract mobs and then she'd be- _dead_ again. She looked outside for some sort of exit. It was the same cave she had collapsed into, but instead of an exit to the open air, there was continued tunnels, holes, and even deeper parts of the cave. Then, Lily looked towards the dim, purple light. Something appeared to be whispering. _A nether portal_. She thought. Lily hurried towards it, only to realize that it wasn't. There was no obsidian or purple portal in sight. There was just a lectern with a lavender gem embedded to it. She realized that was the source giving off all the light. Her curiosity triumphing over her cautiousness, she flipped open the book. A brief dizzy sensation of death and existence surged over her, but she ignored it and started reading.

_**A HALF-BLOOD HAS DESCENDED UPON MINECRAFTIA, AND SO HAVE WE. HUNT DOWN THE HALF-BLOOD. KILL THEM. THEIR SOULS SHALL BE OURS. WE ARE THE NIGHTHUNTERS-**_

Lily got dizzier and dizzier with every word, until she had to stop for her life. But the dizziness wouldn't stop. Brief flashes of moments that were not her own breezed through her mind, until she was left completely paralyzed and fell onto the floor. The purple light started getting brighter and brighter, until all that was left was a blinding ball of light. It was agonizing for Lily couldn't close her eyes. Suddenly…

_Pump. Pump. Pump. Pump. Pump._

The sound of heartbeats got louder and louder, and Lily realized they were her own. The ball of light flashed once more, and suddenly…

_**BOOM!**_

It suddenly exploded. Blocks flew. Lily was knocked high into the air.

"AAAAH!" She screamed. She was a bout to slam into that wall… the momentum would crack her skull or fracture her bones or… _Whoosh!_ Lily realized that she didn't slam into the wall. Confused, she looked around. And then she realized it. she went _through_ the wall.

_Like magic_.


	4. Update

Hi guys! I'm just here to notify you that my story, _The Stalker and the Halo_, will be temporarily closed for a couple months or so. I guess I just got bored with it. I'm sorry, I have little to no patience. Sorry.

It's just temporary. Let me know if you strongly disagree, though I doubt anybody likes this story.

I'll be working on something else, and I really need to catch up on some work…

Anyway, thanks for your understanding! I promise I'll start doing this again. I promise!


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